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ASD's ACSC and partners alert organisations to top 2021 malware strains   News

Aug 5, 2022 - The top types of malicious software – or malware – seen by the Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) and international partners through 2021 have been detailed, along with advice on how to counter them.

Recommendations to mitigate DDoS threats being made against Australian organisations   Advisory

Feb 25, 2020 - The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) is aware of a number of Denial of Service (DoS) for ransom threats being made against Australian organisations, primarily in the banking and finance sector.

Malicious email mitigation strategies   Publication

Oct 6, 2021 - Socially engineered emails containing malicious attachments and embedded links are routinely used in targeted cyber intrusions against organisations. This publication has been developed to provide mitigation strategies for the security risks posed by these malicious emails.

Implementing multi-factor authentication   Publication

Nov 27, 2023 - This publication has been developed to provide guidance on what multi-factor authentication is, different multi-factor authentication methods that exist and why some multi-factor authentication methods are more secure, and therefore more effective, than others.

2020-003: Mailto ransomware incidents   Alert

Feb 6, 2020 - The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD's ACSC) is aware of recent ransomware incidents involving a ransomware tool known as ‘Mailto’ or ‘Kazakavkovkiz’. Mailto belongs to the KoKo ransomware family.

Educational pack for small businesses   Guidance

Jun 15, 2023 - This educational pack provides engaging content to help small business owners learn how to stay cyber secure. Includes practical activities for staff.

ASD's ACSC has launched a new campaign on Business Email Compromise   News

Jun 28, 2022 - With the end of the financial year ushering in tax season, Australians are urged to strengthen their email security and be alert to criminals trying to fool them into making false payments or giving up details that could make them an easy target for cyber crime.

Critical vulnerabilities in Citrix Gateway and Application Delivery Controller (ADC) devices   Alert

Dec 14, 2022 - The Australian Signals Directorate's Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD's ACSC) is aware of a critical vulnerability affecting many versions of Citrix Gateway and ADC. All Australian operators should check for indicators of compromise and install the latest updated versions.

MSP Investigation Report   Reports and statistics

Dec 21, 2018 - The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) investigation report details the theft of commercial secrets, data and information from the Australian arm of a multinational construction services company via their Managed Service Provider.

SDBBot targeting health sector   Alert

Nov 12, 2020 - The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) has observed increased targeting activity against the Australian health sector by actors using the SDBBot Remote Access Tool (RAT).

Critical vulnerability discovered in HTTP.SYS in Microsoft Windows   Alert

May 13, 2021 - A remote code execution vulnerability could enable a malicious cyber actor to compromise vulnerable Microsoft Windows hosts. The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) strongly recommends applying available patches.

Use of Log4j vulnerabilities in ransomware activity   Alert

Dec 23, 2021 - The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) expects an increase in ransomware activity using Log4j as an exploit vector. Malicious actors may take advantage of trivial exploits to impact Australian organisations.

High Severity Vulnerability present in Microsoft Outlook for Windows   Alert

Mar 29, 2023 - The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) is aware of a Microsoft Outlook for Windows vulnerability. All Australian organisations using all versions of Microsoft Outlook for Windows should apply the available patch immediately.

Remote code execution vulnerability present in vm2 sandbox   Alert

Oct 11, 2022 - The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) is aware of a remote code execution vulnerability in vm2 sandbox versions prior to 3.9.11. Affected Australian organisations should apply the available patch immediately.

High Severity vulnerability present in OpenSSL version 3.x   Alert

Nov 2, 2022 - The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) is aware of a buffer overrun and buffer overflow vulnerability in OpenSSL versions above to 3.0. All Australian organisations using version 3.x should apply the available patch immediately.

Remote code execution vulnerability present in the Windows Scripting Engine of Microsoft Windows   Alert

Sep 16, 2021 - A vulnerability exists in a component of Microsoft Windows. A malicious cyber actor could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code, potentially enabling the actor to take control of the vulnerable host. Affected Australian customers should apply the security update provided by Microsoft.

2020-006 Detecting and mitigating exploitation of vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Information Services   Advisory

May 22, 2020 - This advisory provides indicators of the activity the Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) has observed and details proactive advice on detecting and mitigating potential exploitation of this vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Information Services.

ASD's ACSC Annual Cyber Threat Report, July 2019 to June 2020   Reports and statistics

Sep 3, 2020 - This report has been jointly produced by the Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC), the ACIC and the AFP, and is the first unclassified annual threat report since the ASD's ACSC became part of the ASD in July 2018. The report identifies and describes key cyber security threats targeting Australian systems and networks, and provides a range of examples and real-world case studies of malicious activity targeting Australian networks, between July 2019 and June 2020. It provides mitigation advice that all Australians and organisations can take to defend against these threats.

Exploitation of Microsoft Office vulnerability: Follina   Alert

Jun 15, 2022 - The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) is aware of active exploitation of the Follina zero-day vulnerability in the Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool (CVE-2022-30190). Affected Australian organisations should take appropriate action.

Ransomware Playbook   Guidance

Oct 10, 2024 - This interactive guide is here to assist you with taking all of the appropriate steps to prepare for, respond to and recover from a ransomware incident.

Data breaches   Threat

Aug 30, 2023 - Sometimes personal information is released to unauthorised people by accident or as the result of a security breach. For example, an email with personal information can be sent to the wrong person, or a computer system can be hacked and personal information stolen. These are known as data breaches or data spills.

Joint Report on Publicly Available Hacking Tools   Reports and statistics

Oct 12, 2018 - This report is a collaborative research effort by the cyber security authorities of five nations: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and USA. It highlights the use of five publicly available tools, observed in recent cyber incidents around the world.

Exploitation of Unitronics Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs)   Alert

Dec 5, 2023 - The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD's ACSC) is concerned about global exploitation of Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) and is aware of reports of compromise of these devices in Australia. These devices are present in a number of critical sectors such as water, energy, fuel and healthcare.

VMware vCenter Server plugin remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2021-21972)   Alert

Feb 25, 2021 - The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) advises users of VMware vCenter Server products, including as part of VMware Cloud Foundation, to ensure their systems are promptly patched after the recent disclosure of a new remote code execution vulnerability.

Critical vulnerabilities in GitLab Products   Alert

Jan 15, 2024 - The Australian Signals Directorate’s (ASD's) Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) is aware of critical vulnerabilities affecting GitLab Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE). Customers should update to a patched version immediately and enable multi-factor authentication for all GitLab accounts.

Multiple key vulnerabilities identified in Microsoft products   Alert

Oct 13, 2021 - Multiple key vulnerabilities were identified in Microsoft’s 12 October 2021 patch release. While all vulnerabilities addressed in this release are important to mitigate the Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) wishes to highlight several vulnerabilities for priority consideration.

Critical severity vulnerability in Fortinet Fortigate SSL-VPN devices   Alert

Jun 13, 2023 - The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) is aware of a critical pre-authentication remote code execution vulnerability in Fortinet Fortigate SSL VPN devices. Australian organisations should patch their products and apply any recommended mitigations.

Partner hub   Hub item

The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security (ASD’s ACSC) Partnership Program enables Australian organisations and individuals to engage with the ACSC and fellow partners, drawing on collective understanding, experience, skills and capability to lift cyber resilience across the Australian economy.

Gootkit Loader continues to be used on multiple Australian networks   Advisory

Dec 23, 2022 - The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) continues to observe instances of Gootkit JavaScript (JS) Loaders on multiple Australian networks in 2022. Open source reporting also indicates continued Gootkit activity.

Critical Vulnerability in popular Java framework Apache Struts2   Alert

Dec 14, 2023 - The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) is concerned about a critical Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability in Apache Struts2. This primarily affects Java applications which use this framework. Apache Struts2 is widely used in enterprise and bespoke Java applications.